His Eminence the Most Reverend Metropolitan Vladimir (Nagosky) was the ruling hierarch of the Church of Japan at the time the Japanese church was granted autonomy under the Church of Russia in 1970. At that time he was elevated as the ruling bishop with the title of Archbishop of Tokyo and Metropolitan of All Japan. He later became the diocesan bishop of San Francisco in the Metropolia.

Life

Metr. Vladimir was born Basil Nagosky on March 6, 1922, in Donora, Pennsylvania, to immigrant parents from Galicia. Shortly after his birth he moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio. He served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II and the the U.S. Civil Service for almost six years thereafter, both in the United States and abroad. He then attended the Western Reserve University in Cleveland, receiving a baccalaureate degree. He continued his education, attended Columbia University in New York and the University of Vienna for a year each. Basil then attended St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York, completing his studies in 1959. While attending St Vladimir's seminary he was ordained a deacon and then a priest after he completed his studies.

Fr. Basil's first parish assignment was as a missionary priest in St Michael's Cathedral in Sitka, Alaska, as well as along the Aleutian Islands. Fr. Basil took monastic vows in 1961, receiving the name Vladimir. He was next assigned to the Church of Japan. On October 14, 1962, Archimandrite Vladimir was consecrated Bishop of Kyoto and auxiliary to the Archbishop of Tokyo, then Archbishop Nikon (de Greve). At the time he was the second American-born bishop consecrated in Japan. Then, in 1964, the Holy Synod of the Metropolia appointed Bp. Vladimir the ruling bishop for Tokyo and Japan, replacing Abp. Nikon who had returned to the United States the previous year.

In March 1970, Abp. Vladimir was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan by the Moscow Patriarchate when the patriarchate granted autonomy to the Church of Japan. After receiving canonical release from the Moscow Patriarchate in March 1972, Metr. Vladimir returned to the United States as assistant to Abp. John (Shahovskoy) of San Francisco. Then two years later, in 1974, Metr. Vladimir succeeded to the position of ruling bishop of the Diocese of San Francisco and Western United States when Abp. John retired. However, in July 1975, Metr. Vladimir was granted a leave of absence due to poor health. He battled cancer until his death on August 2, 1997, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.